Dark Crossings Double Feature: Rites of Passage

We’ve been reading them since we were kids and writing them since 2011.

We started Dark Crossings as our short story moniker to pay homage to shows like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits and Tales from the Darkside.

But they’ve always had a limited audience compared to our series and standalone books.

Part of that, I think, is because of the price.

Three bucks is a bit too much for one short story (save for something novella length).

But .99 knocks us down to a 35% royalty at Amazon.

So we came up with an idea — a Dark Crossings Double Feature.

Two stories, one from Sean and one from me (Dave), along with Authors’ Notes for about $1.50 per story — or $2.99 a book.

But the only way I think this will really work is if we put the short stories into KDP Select (meaning the stories will be exclusive to Amazon for a while). Our shorts haven’t sold well on the other platforms to date, and it makes no sense putting them everywhere for the few people who might want them. Not when we could be getting the promotion that comes with being Amazon exclusive, promotion which might actually earn back the investment we put into the stories (covers, editing, etc).

BUT … we don’t want to alienate our Apple, Kobo, and Nook readers.

So here’s what we’re going to do.

We’re releasing our first double feature on Gumroad FIRST for a LIMITED TIME.

In other words, you’re buying directly from us (well, through Gumroad).

After that we’ll be taking the book off sale at Gumroad, making the book exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.

WHY GO EXCLUSIVE TO AMAZON?

While we love being sold in all the major stores, so any reader can read us on any device, we also want to sell books! And while our major series do well elsewhere, the smaller books don’t.

Meanwhile, tons of authors are having success with KDP Select — with the ability to make their books free for periods of time and making them free to borrow for Kindle Unlimited readers! These books also tend to show up a lot more often on searches, and also-boughts, meaning that anytime we don’t publish on KDP Select, we’re hurting our ability to sell on Amazon.

With our larger titles we can afford this — as we’ve built a readership for some titles on other platforms. But for our smaller books, not so much.

Still, it sucks to not have the book available to everyone at every store at the same time.

Which is why we’re doing this experiment. We’ll see how it works, and if it goes well, we may do this with our other short stories and works that will be Amazon exclusive first.

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(Note: One of the stories, Rites of Passage, was available to Sterling and Stone prime members last year. So if you were a member then, you already have the first story. The second story, The Room, is brand new. Both are new to Amazon, though.)

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(TWO SHORT STORIES IN ONE DOUBLE FEATURE!)

From #1 horror and sci-fi authors of the Yesterday’s Gone series and Z 2134, Sean Platt and David Wright, comes two short stories including a return to the world of Z 2134 in Rites of Passage, and a new short story called The Room.

RITES OF PASSAGE

In the year 2138, humans live behind walled Cities under strict government control. For those who refuse the confines of tyranny, there is The Barrens, a harsh land where everything is out to kill you — from the wildlife to zombies to other humans.

A lucky few manage to find some semblance of a normal life living within secret villages, ignored by the government and as yet undiscovered by bandits.

But living in such villages requires you to always be prepared — for anything.

Following the death of her father, 15-year-old Scout knows that it is on her to ensure that her 10-year-0ld brother, Kip, has what it takes to survive in the cruel Barrens.

But Kip is a kind soul, unable to even hunt an animal for survival.

So she takes him out to the woods to toughen him up. But what they find will not only test her brother, but also Scout’s resolve. Will she be forced to give up her humanity in order to protect her family?

Z: Rites of Passage is a standalone short story taking place independent of the Z 2134 trilogy with new characters and locations.

I looked at it a dozen times and read through the whole article to see if I was missing something (then realized a cmd-F search on the page would be faster…) Amazing how looking at something over and over and you can just gloss over and see what you expect rather than what’s there.